Chapter 28

Being the apprentice of the master of horses had its advantages. The nicest one was that he was trusted to exercise the horses that were not ridden regularly, and he could do so pretty much whenever he wanted as long as he wasn't supposed to be doing something else. As long as the horses weren't going to be used the next day, Frank could take them out "for exercise". Half the time he was even thanked for doing so.

So it had been easy to get two horses that he could borrow for a few hours. Hazel had been beyond excited when she learned what they were doing. It made the few awkward jokes he'd had to endure when he asked for two horses more than worth it.

They had gone on a long ride, and now we're just sitting on a small hill, looking out at the ocean. The horses were tied off to a tree a little ways away, and now they were just sitting. It wasn't an awkward silence, instead it was rather nice. To just sit with someone, with no pressure to have a constant string of conversation.

When Hazel finally did speak, her voice was soft, seeming to float a bit on the air, "I suppose I owe you the long version of the story now?"

"You don't owe me anything," Frank replied, shrugging, his voice soft a well "But I would be lying if I said I'm not curious about it."

Hazel slowly nodded, not saying anything for a moment. Frank glanced over, watching as she looked out at the ocean. She looked remarkably serious, her eyes focused on the waves in front of her. He couldn't help but be impressed with how she seemed able to so easily switch between such intense seriousness and playfulness.

Instead of saying anything, she pulled up her sleeve slowly to show him her wrist. Frank's eyes fixed on the mark, a scar from a clearly deep burn, in the shape of a triple spiral. Slowly, his hand reached over and lightly ran his finger over the smooth scar.

"Who did this?" He said softly, not letting his fingers drop as he asked. It was clear the mark wasn't a mistake or accident. It was to deep for that, to clean cut. Someone had put it there and it had been on purpose, he just couldn't figure out why anyone would.

"My mother. It's a druid symbol, which she believed would bring me good fortune and long life," Hazel slowly pointed to each of the the three spirals as she continued to speak "One for birth, life, and death."

"Why would she do that?" Frank asked in confusion, eyes looking properly at Hazel now rather than her arm.

"Because we were druids, and she was insane. Normally they would have waited till I was older, till I could choose the mark myself, but my mother insisted and everyone else thought she was blessed or something so they relented," Hazel explained, not really looking at Frank as she did so. Her voice was serious, and he could tell she was doing her best to keep her emotions at bay "But I haven't been a druid since I was six years old."

"Six?" Frank asked, frowning a bit as he looked over at her, processing all the information "What about your mom?"

"She died," Hazel shrugged a bit, starting to pull slight at the grass around her "Which is when I stopped being a druid."

"I was raised by my grandmother- I used to hate it when people said they were sorry about my parents," Frank said, looking over at her for a moment before continuing "But still, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I wish she wasn't dead, but I accepted a long time ago that I'm better off without her," Hazel still wasn't really looking at him. Frank was wondering why she kept talking with him, when really she didn't seem like she wanted to be talking about this at all. "Like I said, she was insane. Sometimes she would throw fits which grew violent, but mostly she would just mumble to herself, completely ignoring me. I'd been pretty much raising myself anyway."

Not sure what to say, but wanting to reassure her, Frank slowly reached over to put his hand on her's. At the touch he felt Hazel tense a bit, but she turned her hand over to slip her fingers between his. "I just wanted to explain."

"I understand, and appreciate it," Frank replied, smiling softly at her for a moment, before hesitantly adding "Before- when we were in town, you said your father worked in the stable?"

"Yeah," Hazel nodded a bit at that "When she died the king brought me to the castle and left me in the care of an older couple who worked there. The man worked in the stable. So- he's not my real dad, but at the time that seemed a lot easier to say than explaining the whole situation."

"That's alright, I understand," Frank assured, not really sure what else to say as he looked back out at the ocean.

"So- your grandmother?" Hazel asked after a moment, clearly trying to change the subject "Did she teach you about all this animal stuff?"

"Yeah," Frank agreed, smiling a bit at that "She loved animals. Particularly birds. She would go out into the woods and just listen to them, sketch pictures of them and things."

"That sounds really nice," Hazel said, smiling at him for a moment, before hesitantly asking "Does she not do that anymore?"

"She died," Frank replied, shrugging a bit. He had been expecting the question when Hazel had brought up his grandmother. He still missed her, a lot, but at least it didn't really hurt to talk about her anymore.

"I'm sorry," Hazel replied, squeezing his hand a bit, before softly, possibly in an attempt to lighten the mood a bit, adding "Don't hate me for saying that."

"I don't," Frank assured, looking over to give her a small smile and squeezing her hand in return.

Than the moment passed. Hazel didn't remove her hand from Frank's, but she shifted to lay back. The calmness she normally wore had returned, the seriousness suddenly gone. Smiling slightly, Frank shifted to lay down next to her.